Music Psychotherapy for Adults
Let your music show you the way back
Music has seen you through it all. Like a best friend, it understands you and helps you feel seen.
Music Psychotherapy is an experiential approach to healing that utilizes similar concepts to those used in other leading approaches to trauma healing. The basic idea is that, by helping you enter a slightly altered state of mind, you will be more capable of processing distressing experiences and overwhelming life events. This is because you won’t necessarily be re-living the experiences, as you might with talk therapy, but observing them from a distance. When engaging in music, you are tuning into both your body and your mind, strengthening your connection to a more resourced part of your brain that allows you to reflect on your lived experiences with empathy and reduced criticism. Imagine saying processing your trauma feels… enjoyable. Can you imagine? Probably a little difficult to believe right now. But it can happen! This is exactly the type of feedback Music Psychotherapy clients share all the time!
“Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.”
-Maya Angelou
How is Music Psychotherapy different from Music Listening?
To start, music is inherently therapeutic. When you listen to or participate in music, there is always the potential for a healing experience to occur. This includes attending live shows, singing along to your favorite band, writing a song, playing an instrument, singing in a choir, and much more. Music is the language of our emotional being and it connects our thinking brain with our embodied experiences. This is quite possibly why music plays such a central role in native healing traditions, social justice movements, faith based, and community oriented spaces. When we engage in music, we are given the opportunity to connect with ourselves and others in the present, past, and future.
Music Psychotherapy harnesses these natural healing elements to support your processing. You’ll be encouraged to reflect on the phases of your life and relationships through the narrative of your favorite songs, artists, and musical experiences. We’ll create space for you to use music, movement, and other forms of creative expression to explore your emotions and find deeper understanding of your embodied responses. Singing, song writing, and active music making create opportunities for you to confront internally held criticism, build confidence, and find your authentic voice.
Music Psychotherapy can help you…
Dismantle mental barriers
Develop awareness & control of your body’s stress responses
Release shame, guilt, and grief connected to distressing experiences
Build confidence & trust in yourself
Learn what it actually feels like to be at peace and restful in your body
Find your voice through challenge and conflict
… and so much more!
Music Psychotherapy helps you tune back into the loving parts of yourself that have always been there and feel whole again.
Serving the greater Burlington Vermont area in addition to College Park, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and individuals across Vermont, Maryland, & Pennsylvania.
Essex Junction, Essex, Stowe, Williston, Winooski, Colchester, Hyattsville, Takoma Park, Silver Spring, Bethesda, Potomac, Olney, Columbia, Greenbelt, Bowie, Beltsville, Annapolis, Severna Park, Towson, Pikesville, Perry Hall, Catonsville, Ellicott City.
